Celtic demolished Rangers at Parkhead to move to the Scottish Premiership summit as they shattered Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s unbeaten run as Rangers boss.
Reo Hatate was the star of the show with a couple of first half screamers before Liel Abada added another to put the Hoops on easy street before the break.
It was a mauling for the champions - who have now dropped SEVEN points since the winter break - as a sell-out home crowd lapped up the free-flowing football in a one-sided Old Firm derby encounter.
And the 3-0 victory moved the Hoops one point clear of their rivals at the top of the table as they recorded their first win over Rangers at the eighth attempt in emphatic fashion.
The home side were given a huge boost as skipper Callum McGregor started despite the facial injury picked up at Alloa that looked certain to rule him out.
And Parkhead was absolutely rocking with pyro adding to the disco lights on an electric Old Firm derby night.
The smoke had barely cleared when the Hoops fired themselves into a dream lead after a rapid start.
Matt O’Riley swung in a corner which was cleared but only as far as Hatate who took a touch before rifling beyond Allan McGregor.
Gers players complained as Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo clashed in their attempt to clear the ball but after a quick consultation with his linesman Bobby Madden ruled the goal stood.
McGregor bounced back from his weekend blunders to prevent the shellshocked visitors from falling further behind with a double save.
Sloppy play from James Tavernier gifted possession to Jota who forced the Gers keeper into a save and was alert to to deny Giorgos Giakoumakis from the rebound.
McGregor denied the Greek again with a great reaction save after a fine move with Liel Abada setting him up.
Gers barely threatened but had a chance late in the first half when Joe Aribo slipped a ball through to Scott Arfield but Joe Hart raced off his line to gather.
And from there it was game over as the Hoops rattled in two goals in as many minutes to finish the game as a contest.
Hatate was first up after good link-up play from O’Riley and Abada to set up the Japanese star who unleashed an unstoppable shot beyond McGregor.
Rangers would have been desperate to just get in at the break but there was more to come from Celtic as Hatate turned provider to cross and Borna Barisic gave up to allow Abada to net.
Van Bronckhorst reacted with a triple change as Ryan Jack, Fashion Sakala and Leon Balogun were all on in place of Barisic, Diallo and Glen Kamara.
And the visitors had more of the ball with Jack in particular making a difference and he cracked the crossbar with an effort late but Celtic had done their job by then and a comeback was never realistic.
Here's five talking points from Parkhead
Amazing Ange
When Celtic trailed Rangers by six points in the Scottish Premiership following a 1-1 draw at home to Dundee United few would have predicted the turnaround.
But it’s credit to Ange Postecoglou that he refused to let the gap get bigger and he was irked by people writing his side off back then.
"It's a weird league," said Postecoglou at the time. "You call things early here, don't you? It's quite remarkable that seven games in people are calling the title already.
"I'm not pulling up stumps after seven games just because other people seem to think there is some sort of insurmountable challenge out there for us.”
He was right to keep that belief and he has defied the doubters as he has built a real belief within the team.
Honeymoon over for Gio
Giovanni van Bronckhorst played in the 6-2 defeat for Rangers at Parkhead more than two decades ago so he knows this feeling.
And the Dutchman is well aware of the expectations in the Old Firm so he can now expect to feel a bit of heat.
He had been unbeaten in 13 previous games as Light Blues manager but there have been grumblings within the Gers support at what they have been seeing of late.
And that all came to a head in a shambolic display which will lead to an inquest which he must find answers to.
His side have been far too cautious, didn’t look to have any real gameplan and they never looked up for the fight at all which will be a real worry for fans.
The supporters had turned up to let off fireworks as the team bus departed Ibrox but this was the dampest of squibs.
Masked crusader
If anyone sums up the spirit of this Celtic team under Ange Postecoglou then it’s captain Callum McGregor.
Few would have given him a chance of playing in this game when he went off with that facial injury in the Scottish Cup win over Alloa Athletic.
But the fact he played on here with a protective mask just shows the desire of the captain as he leads by example in his first season with the armband.
And to produce the kind of display he did under those circumstances - where he would have been desperate to avoid a knock - was hugely impressive.
McGregor was the first player in Bobby Madden’s book but despite walking that tightrope he was immense.
Derby hoodoo smashed
Celtic hadn’t defeated their rivals since 2019 - the Betfred Cup final - and we’re now in 2022.
It was 787 days since that 1-0 win thanks to Christopher Jullien’s winner won the trophy at Hampden.
Rangers had gone seven games unbeaten during that period as the balance of power slowly shifted under Steven Gerrard.
Brendan Rodgers once claimed the Rangers players were scarred by this fixture and it looked like that was the case with Celtic, albeit the majority of the current crop weren’t involved for most of that run.
But if you are going to blow away any talk of a hex then this was certainly the way to do it - in emphatic style.
Sensible shutdown
Forget who may or may not have benefited from bringing the winter break forward and pushing this game back in terms of available personnel.
This match is beamed all around the globe and it was a much better spectacle for having 60,000 fans than it would have with 500 in a ghost-like Parkhead.
The only disappointing thing is that the pair continue to squabble over the number of tickets for away fans.
That’s a separate argument but there can no no debate that a packed Parkhead showed Scottish football and this world famous fixture in a better light.
